Save time machine backup on Mac

[RustyFox]

I've moved from a MacBook Air to a new MBP. I've transferred all my docs etc across and am setup, and want to wipe my old Air to sell it. I have an external drive that I use for time machine backups which I also want to wipe and start using to backup my MBP. Before I do so, I want to copy the old time machine backups (that were for my Air) onto my MBP's hard drive. When I go to do so, I get an error message saying this disk isn't the right format for time machine backups.

Is there any way of doing this? It's just me being paranoid incase anything goes wrong so I could restore to my Air's backup.

 

[CoastalOR]

First, it would be a waste of space on your new MBP internal drive space to store a old TM backups from the Air. I would recommend keeping you current Air TM external drive and getting a new external drive for TM for the new MBP.

I've moved from a MacBook Air to a new MBP. I've transferred all my docs etc across and am setup, and want to wipe my old Air to sell it. I have an external drive that I use for time machine backups which I also want to wipe and start using to backup my MBP. Before I do so, I want to copy the old time machine backups (that were for my Air) onto my MBP's hard drive. When I go to do so, I get an error message saying this disk isn't the right format for time machine backups.
Is there any way of doing this? It's just me being paranoid incase anything goes wrong so I could restore to my Air's backup.

To answer your question: Your new MBP is probably APFS format if you are using High Sierra or Mojave macOS on the new MBP. Time Machine must have a format of HFS+ (mac os extended (journaled)).
Here is Apple's instruction on transferring TM to a different drive. The first section covers checking the new drive format. Did you do that?
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202380

 

[Weaselboy]

Is there any way of doing this?

What you could do to get around the file incompatibility issue is use Disk Utility to make a DMG image of the TM drive, then copy that to the new Air. But like @CoastalOR said, it is likely going to take a lot of space.

https://support.apple.com/guide/disk-utility/create-a-disk-image-dskutl11888/mac